More than A Half Million Social Security Numbers Issued To Illegal Immigrants Granted Amnesty

The Obama administration has issued more than half a million new Social Security Numbers (SSN) to illegal immigrants granted amnesty under President Obama’s Deferred Actions for Childhood Arrivals program.

In a letter to Sens. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and Ben Sasse (R-NE), exclusively obtained by Breitbart News, the Social Security Administration (SSA) reveals that by the end of Fiscal Year 2014 the Obama administration “had issued approximately 541,000 original SSNs to individuals authorized to work under the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy since its inception” in 2012.

The administration said it did not maintain a count of the number of individuals who applied but were denied an SSN.

“We have longstanding, rigorous procedures for processing SSN requests. Under out stringent requirements, SSN applicants must present evidence of identity, age, and work-authorized immigration status,” SSA Acting Commissioner Carolyn Colvin wrote to Sessions and Sasse in response to their March 12 request. “As with all SSN applications, we review the evidence submitted for authenticity, and for non citizens, we also verify immigration and work authorization status directly with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) via an electronic process called the Systemic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) Program.”

Colvin further noted that no SSNs had been granted under the Obama administration’s November 20, 2014 expansion of DACA and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) due to a federal district court judge’s preliminary injunction on those programs.

“We would only issue SSNs to these individuals if DHS began to accept and adjudicate applications and grant work authorizations and documentation evidencing such authorization,” Colvin wrote in the letter dated April 10.

SSN are a key factor in accessing tax benefits such as Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income programs. Colvin asserted that none of the individuals had applied for and received benefits through those programs.

SSNs are also instrumental to getting tax refunds such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and according to the IRS illegal immigrants granted SSNs can claim up to three years of back tax refunds for illegal work. Meaning in a single year an amnestied illegal immigrant could claim up to four years of tax credits.

According to a recent Congressional Research Service memo, the maximum level of EITC and Child Tax Credits (CTC) that a hypothetical family with three children could claim in the four years from 2011-2014 at the ‘phase-out threshold’ income would be able to obtain $35,521. A family with four children in those circumstances could claim $35,560.

As of December 31 DHS had approved more than 787,068 DACA applications.